Cyrus Thomas

“ Four ages yet shall be inscribed,
4. Then shall come the holy priest, the holy god.
5. With grief I speak what now I see.
6. Watch well the road ye dwellers in Itza.
7. The master of the earth shall come to us. ”

“ Having recently come into possession of Leon de Rosny’s late work entitled “Les Documents ecrits de l’Antiquite Americaine,”1 I find in it a photo-lithographic copy of two plates (or rather one plate, for the two are but parts of one) of the Maya Manuscript known as the Codex Cortesianus. This plate (I shall speak of the two as one) is of so much importance in the study of the Central American symbols and calendar systems that I deem it worthy of special notice; more particularly so as it furnishes a connecting link between the Maya and Mexican symbols and calendars. ”

“ He explained as clearly as he could, and I learned from what he said that many believe that we have two souls, both divisible and material and yet both rational; one leaves the body at death, but remains, however, in the cemetery until the feast of the dead, after which it either is changed into a turtle-dove, or according to the more general belief, it goes immediately to the village of souls.
The other soul is attached to the body; it marks the corpse, as it were, and remains in the grave after the feast, never to leave it, "si ce n'est que quelqu'un l'enfante de rechef." ”

“ Though hundreds of groups of mounds marking the sites of ancient villages are to be seen scattered over the Mississippi Valley and Gulf States yet nowhere can there be found an ancient house. The inference is therefore irresistible that the houses of the mound- builders were constructed of perishable materials; consequently that the builders were not sufficiently advanced in art to use stone or brick in building, or else that they lived a roving, restless life that would not justify the time and trouble necessary to erect such permanent structures. ”

“ Dr Seler thinks, however, that the Maya names were derived, as above stated, from im. Nevertheless he concludes that the primitive signification of both the Maya and Mexican symbols is the earth, “who brings forth all things from her bosom and takes all living things again into it.” If we may judge from its use, there is no doubt that the Mexican cipactli figure is a symbol of the earth or underworld. The usual form of the day symbol in the Mexican codices is shown in plate LXIV, 16, and more elaborately in plate LXIV, 17. ”

“ They returned, by a road swept and ornamented with arches and foliage, to the two piles of stone, where they found the statue, around which they gathered with much devotion. The priest then perfumed it with forty-nine grains of bruised maize mixed with incense. The nobles placed their incense together in the censer of the idol and perfumed it in their turn. The maize mixed with the priest's incense is called zacah, and that which the nobles present is called chahalte. Having incensed the image, they cut off the head of a fowl and presented to it. ”

“ Considering the immense variety of this god’s representations and the numerous symbols of power in the various elements which the deity rules, we may well be justified in assuming that there are indications here of one of the most important figures in Maya mythology, with one of the principal deities of the people. The most important god of the Mayas was Kukulcan, the creator of the country’s civilization, who had come from the far, unknown east, the Mexican Quetzalcohuatl, the Gucumatz of the Kiche, the Kukulcan of the Tzendals. ”

“ Another and more important result is the proof it furnishes of an intimate relation of the Maya with the Nahua nations. That all the Central American nations had calendars substantially the same in principle as the Mexican, is well known. This of itself would indicate a common origin not so very remote; but when we see two contiguous or neighboring peoples making use of the same conventional signs of a complicated nature, down even to the most minute details, and those of a character not comprehensible by the commonalty, we have proof at least of a very intimate relation. ”

“ The mortuary customs of the mound-builders, as gleaned from an examination of their burial mounds, ancient cemeteries, and other depositories of their dead, present so many striking resemblances to those of the Indians when first encountered by the whites, as to leave little room for doubt regarding their identity. ”

“ Here, when the recovery of any one is despaired of, not only do they not hesitate to tell him that his end is near, but they even prepare in his presence all that is necessary for the burial; they often show him the shroud, the hose, the shoes, and the girdle which he is to wear; frequently they are enshrouded, after their custom, before they have expired, and they hold a feast of farewell to their friends, during which they sing, sometimes without showing any apprehension of death, which they regard very indifferently, considering it only as a change to a life very little different from this. ”

“ As the character when used otherwise than a day symbol is frequently, perhaps most generally, drawn with a suffix, as shown in LXVII, 18, I suggest that it is possible it is a conventional method of representing earth or soil. By reference to the Borgian Codex, plate 11, also 19a and 61b, it will be seen that where earth is introduced into the picture it is indicated by heavy and wavy lines, as shown in LXVII, 19. This bears a very strong resemblance to the suffix of LXVII, 18. The corkscrew or root figure is added as appropriate, as an element, in forming an earth figure. ”

“ Although we can find numerous figures of winged individuals in Mexican designs (they are unknown in Central American) , they always carry with them the idea that the individual is partly or completely clothed in the skin of the bird. This is partially carried out in our copper plate, as we see by the bird-bill over the head, the eye being that of the bird and not of the man. But when we come to the wings we at once see that the artist had in mind the angel figure, with wings arising from the back of the shoulders, an idea wholly foreign to Mexican art. ”

“ On this occasion the men came ornamented and painted with their colors, after having washed from themselves the grease with which they were covered during their fast. All being assembled with the offerings of meat and drinks which they had brought, also a great quantity of wine, newly fermented, the priest purified the temple and seated himself in the center of the court, clothed in pontifical garments and having beside him a brazier and the balls of incense. ”

“ In all the Maya manuscripts we find the custom of using heads as symbols, almost, if not quite, as often as in the Mexican codices. Not only so, but in the former, even in the purely conventional characters, we see evidences of a desire to turn every one possible into the figure of a head, a fact still more apparent in the monumental inscriptions. ”

“ We may remark incidentally that a curious coincidence is found in the fact that there appears to be a relation between the wind and monkeys in the mythology both of the Hindu and of the natives of Central America, or at least of Mexico. Hanuman, the Monkey god, who plays such an important part in the Ramayana, was the son of Pavana, the chief Wind deity. According to Brasseur, in his introductory essay to the Popol Vuh, it is stated in the Codex Chimalpopoca that the men were, on a day Ehecatl, changed by the wind into monkeys. ”

“ CHAPTER V. THE CHEROKEES AND THE TALLEGWI. The ancient works of Ohio, with their "altar mounds," "sacred enclosures," and "mathematically accurate" but mysterious circles and squares, are still pointed to as impregnable to the attacks of this Indian theory. That the rays of light falling upon their origin are few and dim, is admitted; still, we are not left wholly in the dark. ”

“ Even admitting that the large angular loops indicate the cardinal points, we must suppose the figures of one corner, either those at the right or left, belong respectively to them. As the symbols of the year-bearers Acatl, Tecpatl, Calli, and Tochtli have peculiar marks of distinction, we are justified in believing that this distinction is for the purpose of signifying the quarter to which they belong. Examining carefully the bird on the symbol for Acatl in the upper left-hand corner loop, we find that it can be identified only with that on the tree in the top or red angular loop. ”

“ I have been and am still disposed to connect the mound-builders of the Kanawha valley with those of western North Carolina, but our explorations in the two sections have convinced me of their close relation to the people whose mysterious monuments dot the hills and valleys of Ohio. That they were related in some way to the mound-builders of North Carolina and East Tennessee is more than probable, but the key to unlock this mystery, if it exists anywhere, is most likely to be found in the history, traditions, and works of the Cherokees, and the traditions relating to the Tallegwi. ”

“ I have reserved until now a discussion of the description of the Maya writing presented in the well-known work of Diego de Landa, the second bishop of Yucatan. Landa arrived in the province in August, 1549, and died in April, 1579, having passed most of the intervening thirty years there in the discharge of his religious duties. He became well acquainted with the language, which, for that matter, is a comparatively easy one, and though harsh, illiberal, and bitterly fanatic, he paid a certain amount of attention to the arts, religion, and history of the ancient inhabitants. ”